Council Set for July 29–31 Meeting as Gardiner/DVP Handoff Advances and Federal Funding Gaps Persist

Toronto City Council returns for its final regular meeting before the summer break from July 29 to 31, with several financial files carrying implications well beyond the immediate agenda.

Among the expected follow-ups from the 2026 budget is a report on the feasibility of establishing a Major Gifts office at City Hall. Council directed the City Manager, Chief Financial Officer and the City’s partnership-development staff to examine a possible roadmap for an office that could coordinate large private donations to municipal projects and programs. The directive was added to the budget implementation package in February.

The larger fiscal question remains the implementation of the province’s takeover of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

The upload was originally included in the Ontario-Toronto New Deal announced by Mayor Olivia Chow and Premier Doug Ford in November 2023. The agreement estimated that removing the two expressways from Toronto’s books would provide at least $2 billion in capital relief over 10 years, with the potential value reaching $6.5 billion as construction and maintenance costs increased.

That upper figure was always an estimate rather than a guaranteed payment to the city. Toronto’s latest public accounting identifies approximately $1.9 billion that can be redirected toward transit, housing, roads and municipal facilities over the coming decade.

The transfer has moved considerably closer to completion. The province has finished its due-diligence process, and ownership and responsibility for both expressways are now scheduled to transfer to Ontario in the fall of 2027. Queen’s Park is providing up to $353 million for operations and maintenance during the 2026–27 transition, adding to $359 million provided during 2024 and 2025 and $73 million used to accelerate Gardiner repairs. City officials describe the negotiations as being in their final stages.

The federal side of the original New Deal is less straightforward. Toronto and Ontario jointly requested $2.721 billion from Ottawa for refugee shelter costs, new shelter infrastructure, East Harbour flood protection, pandemic-era budget pressures and replacement trains for Line 2.

Some of that request has since been answered. Ottawa committed $758 million toward the Line 2 trains in November 2024, matching the provincial and municipal shares. Other portions have received partial or related funding, but the original federal package has never been delivered as one fully matched agreement. The 2023 term sheet listed five separate federal requests rather than a single unconditional transfer.

The distinction will shape the coming municipal campaign. Chow can point to a provincial upload that is funded, scheduled and moving toward completion. Challengers can still question why the handoff won’t occur until late 2027 and whether Toronto has secured enough federal participation for shelters and infrastructure.

The July meeting won’t settle those questions. It will, however, provide the last major council-stage opportunity before the campaign intensifies to measure how much of Toronto’s fiscal strategy is firmly secured and how much still depends on decisions made at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa.